The Equalizer
by Shadenight123
Summary: SI. Jane Shepard, ruthless renegade, earthborn and colonist of Mindoir, ends up accepting a Shadow Broker operative. Along the way, she will face enemies she has never seen before as Geth, Cerberus and Mercenary bands will fight tooth and nail against her. In the end, knowledge is power. And power is there to be used...certainly not to help the galaxy. Characters death. Not 1st POV
1. Acquiring a Team

The Equalizer

"_Thankfully, I did not arrive in the midst of the Citadel with nothing more than a backpack on my shoulders. I was born in the world of Mass Effect, and from there…from there I had the Choice. I admit helping Commander Shepard would have been fun…but ultimately boring. So I didn't become her best friend._

_I became her worst nightmare." Shadenight123._

Jane Shepard felt dirty.

It wasn't the grime, the sweat, or the blood on her N7 armor that made her feel that. It wasn't her past that weighted heavy on her soul. It wasn't the scream of Jenkins that was now haunting her, or the faces of her unit on Torfan. It wasn't the gaze of hatred of her brother, as she left him behind to be prey of the Batarians coming down hard on Mindoir.

It wasn't about the fellow marines that went to Akuze with her. It wasn't about the look of disgust her mother had given her repeatedly in the last years of the woman's life, faulting her for not having taken care of her younger brother and sister.

The reason Jane Shepard felt dirty was because, in the end, she was forced to _cooperate_.

Stepping through the corridors of the Citadel's Docks, her new status as Spectre minted, all that she wished for was a shower on the Normandy. She could feel her red locks of hair itch as they stuck to her sweaty skin, and the droplets seemed to do their best to unnerve her and fall in her green eyes. She'd let Pressly take care of the nuisances that followed her while she showered. She gritted her teeth in frustration, trying her best to ignore the horrible jokes of the Turian, the nervous chuckles of the Quarian or the grunts of the Krogan.

She didn't like any of them, but Anderson had _insisted_.

The Turian was an ex C-sec guy, a blue armored and scaly-looking alien named Garrus. He had a sniper rifle, and was probably overcompensating for something else.

The Quarian was a strange looking alien in a suit, with her 'pilgrimage' in action and with an apparent need to prove herself to her father. She probably had daddy issues, and the incessant babbling on how the Geth were evil and how the Quarians were mistreated was probably similar to how the Eco-Terrorist excused their actions of burning petrol-ships because 'they harmed nature'. Still, she had given them proof of Saren being responsible for Eden Prime…

And that had counted for something at least.

The last one was Wrex, a krogan. That truly said it all on the race, the being and his idea of fun. She couldn't actually care less if he followed like a puppy or a ferocious dinosaur on two feet. All that she cared for was that she now had a more disposable meat-shield than one of the other humans.

Udina was an asshole, but Anderson had been her Captain.

Near the docks, a black armored goon that screamed 'mercenary' to her brain moved from his spot near the wall, and began to slowly walk towards them. He was wearing a helmet that covered his face, and if the integral black color hadn't told her 'cliché' he might have even looked scary. As it was, he looked like some sort of two-credit thug that tried his best to look cool but really wasn't.

"Spectre Shepard?" his voice was surprisingly polite, but still, she narrowed her eyes.

"News travel fast around the Citadel," she said back. How had the man known? It _was_ possible for something of this caliber to already be out in the open, but this soon reeked of bad and cliché spy-flick.

"I work for someone who values information," he retorted with a shrug. His helmet moved slightly to the Krogan. "Wrex. The Shadow Broker is pleased with your last mission. Credits were sent, I hope?"

"That they were," the Krogan huffed back. "Shepard, the guy's one of the Shadow Broker's operatives, right hand man and all. I can vouch for him if you like."

Somehow, she wished she hadn't told both Alenko and Williams to head back to the ship first. Udina had insisted on putting up the nice Xeno-friendly face to the council of aliens, and what better show than going on with a group of aliens?

"The Shadow Broker?" she raised an eyebrow. She wasn't all that knowledgeable in the affairs of the galaxy, but she'd be damned before she asked that out loud. "Should I be…scared?" she drawled that out with mock amusement. Behind her, she could see the Quarian actually fidget. Oh right, she had gotten into contact with Fist, hadn't she?

The Turian was already moving his hand to the rifle, but a bad gaze from Wrex stopped him on his tracks.

"No," the merc replied. "The Shadow Broker wishes to ensure your success. Saren has infiltrated certain…aspects of our organization, and your help in removing Fist has shown us a better way to solve two pijaks with a gunshot. In exchange for taking me onboard and some…_help_ along the way, you will be granted access to information concerning your objectives in your quest against Saren. Furthermore, as a token of good will I'll relay to you a free piece of information…you will be the new Commander of the Normandy as soon as we reach the docks, so yes, it will be your decision whom to take aboard."

"Do you always talk this much?" Jane quipped back, was the _merc_ really expecting her to take him on? Then again, she had to cooperate didn't she? And information…at least the guy looked human in form. He could be a Batarian however.

"Only with information that doesn't have a price," he retorted calmly. "So, do we have a deal, Shepard?"

"What are you?" she asked then with a snort. "Out with the helmet first."

"As a Shadow Broker operative, my face is my business alone…but if you wish to, we could find somewhere more…private, to do so."

"You're not making a good impression," Jane muttered back. She narrowed her eyes then. "Fine, but if you're a Batarian, then I hope you enjoy getting flung out of the airlock…because I won't have your race on my ship in anything less than a coffin."

The operative just nodded firmly, before extending his right hand.

"John Smith."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. "That has to be the most common name in all of humanity."

"So they say," he answered back, his tone frosty as his hand remained extended. She smirked.

"Is that your real name to begin with?" she left him hanging, as she began to walk once more. He fell in line behind her, shaking his head slowly as he did so.

"Don't know. The Shadow Broker bought me from Batarian slavers, saved me from a life of hell and trained me to become an information broker under his command. I'm suited with enough cybernetic warfare to make an AI look like an old Commodore computer…but I'm not a front-line fighter."

She flinched at the mention of Batarian Slavers. Still, she couldn't believe him. For all that she knew he had just prepared a perfect background story to make her feel sympathetic. She'd question him harder later on.

"You've got to have a pretty face behind that mask then," she snorted as they reached the lift. Perfect. Now she'd have to listen to the useless banter of the imbeciles with her. Could things get any better?

As they slipped in, the news of the Citadel began to broadcast.

"_Dear listeners, you will all remember the news on the settlement out of court of Binary Helix against the Krogans for a Genophage cure. This latest event forced the Krogan leader, Urdnot Wreav, to claim independence of Tuchanka from council space and the expulsion of all non-krogans from the planet. The Asari ambassador has claimed the Krogans do not have the necessary resources to survive on Tuchanka without external trade. Are we to expect Krogan refugees soon?"_

"Stupid brood-brother of mine," Wrex grumbled. "I should have killed him when I had the chance."

"Oh? Family troubles?" the Turian asked then. Why were the lifts moving so slowly in this thrice damned citadel?

"No," Wrex snared back. "I actually like Wreav. He just angers me with his breathing."

"That…didn't make any sense," the Quarian muttered.

"He breathes really loudly," Wrex added, as if it settled the argument.

Jane began to nervously tap her foot against the floor of the citadel. How long was this suffering going to last?

"So, tell me of the flotilla," the Turian began, turning to the Quarian. Oh no, if she had to listen to these insufferable aliens bicker about their different upbringing she would rather grab her shotgun and take her own head off.

"Want me to speed this thing up?" the moment John said those words she turned her gaze filled with hatred to the mercenary. She didn't dare hope, but with this? With this she was actually considering getting the man aboard. Anything to stop the bickering and the bantering.

"You can? Then do it!" she hissed. He shrugged, his Omni-Tool appearing on his left arm in a sleek black color as he pressed it over the commands of the lift. Instead of shining orange, it shone a light silver color.

She frowned. Black Omni-Tool and silver light? She knew one could change their hue color, but really…to go with the black variant considering his armor, the man had to enjoy the color. Maybe he also had black underwear and matching clothes?

The weight increase on her shoulders was relative to the speed of the lift, which suddenly doubled to the point where just a few seconds later the doors pinged open. She exhaled a breath of relief. No alien-sob story to hear this time or ever again if she kept John nearby when there was a lift to take. She walked briskly out, the lights of the dock reflecting against the metallic surface of the floor. In front of her both Anderson and Udina stood waiting, the human Captain looking as if he had just eaten a rotten fruit.

"I've got big news for you, Shepard. Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now."

She turned to stare at Anderson, whose arms were crossed over his chest and was looking at her with something akin to reluctant approval.

"She's quick and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre. Treat her well, Commander."

"This isn't right!" she snapped. "The Normandy belongs to you!"

"You needed your own ship." Anderson's voice was calm as he spoke, something she had never managed. She either had to be snappish or she had to be barking –it was the only way she had gotten respect through the training course and into the marines. "A Spectre can't answer to anyone but the Council. And it's time for me to step down."

"Come clean with me, Captain. You owe me that much." It couldn't be the only reason. She knew the only way to pry Anderson away from the Normandy would have been with a crowbar, applied directly to the skull.

Anderson took a deep breath, before slowly exhaling.

"Twenty years ago Captain David Anderson was tasked with a mission for Spectre-hood," the voice that spoke belonged to the Shadow Broker's operative, who had apparently butted in on the conversation. "His colleague and Spectre tester was Saren Arterius. A refinery exploded, the fault was given to your captain by Saren. Humanity lost the right to try for Spectre-hood until now, with you." He turned to face the Captain. "You should probably ask for compensation after these recent events."

If the Captain was surprised, he didn't show it. He just shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"Bygones are bygones. Killing Saren takes priority… Jane, you found another one?" his eyes travelled to the merc. She remained stone faced, before curtly nodding.

"Yes sir, it seems I attract strange fellows like flies."

"At least he looks human," Udina muttered, barely audible.

She looked at the Normandy, then at Anderson. Her gaze then travelled for a second to the Shadow Broker operative who seemed to be holding the 'smug' pose of one who's just saying 'told you'.

Jane gritted her teeth, before snapping back.

"If you had this information, why not come forward then!?"

"You think I was more than a toddler? How old do you think I am?" the operative snorted back. "The information wasn't delivered because it wasn't asked. It wasn't asked because we weren't operational earlier. Let us say the means a Shadow Broker comes to power are…_questionable_, at best."

"Commander, does the council—"

"Omega, ambassador," the operative remarked with ease. "_Omega_."

That shut down Udina pretty quickly. She had to remember to search the Extranet later for the meaning of the word, but if it worked like some sort of insult on the politicians…

"Anyway," Anderson spoke next. "Saren's gone, don't try and look for him. We had reports of his Geth scouring the system looking for the Conduit."

Udina took the word. "We had reports of Geth in the Feros system shortly before the colony went dark. And there have been sightings around Noveria."

"Find out what Saren was after on Feros and Noveria. Maybe you can figure out what the Conduit is before he does." Anderson said —his eyes seemingly transfixed on the Shadow Broker operative. "We must find the conduit first, Shepard. If it is the mean to bring back the Reapers, then Saren must not reach it first."

"We have one more lead," Udina remarked. "Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on the recording…she has a daughter. A scientist who specializes in the Protheans. We don't know if she's involved, but she might give us clues on her mother's location. Her name is Liara. Dr. Liara T'soni." He looked towards the Shadow Broker operative then, as if expecting him to add something.

"She's in the Artemis Tau cluster, Therum to be precise," John spoke calmly, his arms crossed. "The Shadow Broker wishes to cooperate fully as long as it proves beneficial…and that is until Saren is killed."

"Fine," Udina muttered. "I suppose you picked at least _someone_ useful."

The aliens behind her remained quiet. That was a nice improvement. Maybe they were used to getting flak out of humans? Still, better…it was nice, the silence.

"Sounds like we should head to Therum then," she replied.

"It's your decision, Commander. You no longer answer to us." Anderson's words were trying to be comforting, but to her it felt as if somebody had yanked away her safety harness, especially when the angry-spoken words of Udina arrived.

"But you still represent humanity as a whole, Shepard. You are not the shining example I had hoped for the position, but you will have to do. Remember my words Shepard: you fuck this up, you destroy the only chance humanity has to get a council seat…and I swear that being sent to Torfan will look like a walk in the park when I'll be done with your future reassignment."

He then sharply nodded to Anderson, and then left.

"Honestly," Anderson sighed. "You'll have to forgive him," he added. "He isn't like that most of the time."

"Only on his good days?" Tali hazarded.

"Something similar to that," Anderson admitted a moment later. That was so much like her Captain: to fraternize with everyone, even the strange alien in a suit.

"We better not waste any more time," she barked out. "Let's get aboard and find you lot a place to crash."

Jane didn't want to admit she was pissed. The Captain had been _her_ captain for years. Now she was the Commander of the Normandy and a Spectre, but it really didn't hold up. What if the Captain hated her because she had taken away his post? It happened; it always happened…

She always pushed away people, even when she didn't want to.

"_Don't leave me here!" she had wanted to scream. No words came out._

They climbed aboard a few seconds later, the sterilization process taking few minutes in which she began to fidget. She was now the captain of the Normandy's crew. Realization sunk in as she calmed her breaths. Like she had been the leader of the marine team on Akuze. Like she had been the leader of the assault on Torfan. She was now once more in charge.

"Stand by, shore party. Decontamination in progress."

"Can you speed this up too?" Wrex asked the Shadow Broker operative.

"I could, but I figure decontamination is important. And hacking into the ship so soon would probably get me a bullet through the brain. You need to take your time with a lady, you know?"

Wrex chuckled. "On Tuchanka, the ladies jump on the strongest males."

"That seems awfully nice. Just prove your worth without dying to a Thresher Maw, or maybe even killing one, and get laid." She didn't know if there was sarcasm in John or not as he spoke with ease to the Krogan, then again…_what_ _was_ a Thresher Maw? She'd look it up on Extranet too.

"You've been on Tuchanka?" Wrex asked eagerly.

"That I have," John admitted back. "I've been a bit of everywhere in the galaxy I must say. Tuchanka has that bit of…radioactive charm that I sorely missed in my life."

Were they going to die beneath her command again? If so, maybe she could get John Smith to die first. He was starting to unnerve her. Wasn't he even the slightest bit worried? They were going against a former Spectre, who was hell bent on setting free an army of psychopathic machines…

And all he could think about was talking of sightseeing the galaxy with a Krogan?

No, she had aliens she could use. There was no need to risk a human when an alien could do the risky job. As unnerving as John Smith was, he wasn't an alien. He wasn't an enemy. He might not be a trusted ally, but at least he wasn't going to be down on the planet watching her back. He'd stay on the Normandy, delivering information.

The question now was where they'd set their course for. She was the commanding officer, but every minute, every hour was precious in catching Saren.

"Where should we go first?" she asked John just as the doors slid open, to admit them into the Normandy.

"Therum. Liara T'soni is an expert in Prothean tech, and if we stumble upon Prothean ruins on Feros or on Noveria, she will be useful."

"Good," she snapped back curtly, before walking to the pilot's position.

Joker met her with a smirk.

"I heard what happened to Captain…"

"Not now, Joker," she barked back. "Get me the crew on intercom."

The pilot mumbled something beneath his breath, before flicking a switch. "Intercom's open Commander."

She took a small breath, and then brought her right hand down on the console, to steady her weight as she leaned closer.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking." Damn, how she wanted a shower.

"I won't sugarcoat this: we're going after Saren, we're going after the culprit of Eden Prime. We're going to find him, gut him like a fish and leave his entrails for the vultures to feast upon. Captain Anderson was a good man, and he was fucked up by Saren too. If you don't want to do this for me, then do this to avenge your previous Captain. Shepard out." She then stood back up and, as she began to walk away, she added. "Set course for Therum, Artemis Tau cluster."

"Aye, aye Commander," Joker answered back.

She hoped Pressly had found some spots for the alien members, maybe cots or what-not next to the loudest rooms.

She moved up to the captain's cabin to retrieve her stuff, before heading over to the showers first, fully expecting nobody else to be in them since they had barely begun departure. She was stumped when she found out somebody else was already occupying one of them.

The showers were unisex, small cubicles separating each other from view but which granted enough sight to fully see the face of the showering individual. The hums of pleasure coming from one of the stalls brought her to fix her eyes on the figure in question. The back of the head was clearly showing a small dark brown pony-tail, and the fair skin probably settled him as one of the marines aboard.

She prided herself with knowing as little of the crew as possible, just so she wouldn't have any attachments when the time came for them to die.

She was being fatalistic, but better to be prepared than wounded.

The light humming from the man wasn't interrupted as she stepped in the nearby shower. Apparently he had been soaping his head and hadn't heard her set in.

She didn't much care for prudishness —the Marine Corps weren't much keen on that.

By the time she was finished, the marine was gone. She rolled her eyes and moved to get her own clean stuff and casual clothes.

Maybe she wasn't going to win any feminism contest, but she loved her long gym trousers and jersey more than 'looking sexy' or whatever. It wasn't as if there was someone in the crew she wanted to impress.

She began her rounds, deciding that the first thing she could do was speaking eye to eye with John Smith, and settle once and for all what race he belonged to.

She found him in the garage, together with the other aliens as well as Williams. Actually, the two were locked on a conversation.

"All I am saying is that it would be a gross misusage of my capacities," the armored operative remarked coolly.

"I say you've got good enough kinetic barriers to survive an anti-tank caliber round to the chest at point-blank, and you don't want to go on land?"

"I'm an information manager, not a soldier," John said once more. "Want to know what your sisters are up to, or where they are? Just ask. Want me to grab a rifle and go down on the ground team? Not a chance in hell."

"What's the problem?" Jane settled for the calm approach. Both were humans, and both were at the very least not keen on making problems to her.

"Commander," Ashley spoke. "I asked Smith here for his armor's shields kinetic output, and he answered me he was in a hard-suit. I asked for specifications and he refused, so I checked the producer's mark. He's got a Heavy Crysis mark X suit, and the Jormangund Technology firm that produces said suits is said to only deliver hand-made and tailored models to few carefully selected persons. He could stop a tank ma'am, and he's a waste if he remains onboard."

"The Shadow Broker operatives are equipped to their very best for maximum survivability," John remarked. "It is obvious I will not be participating in land battles where said survivability might be put to risk."

"So you're a well-armed coward?" Jane snorted. "Can't force you I guess, and you were pretty clear on your terms before taking you aboard." She turned to Ashley, who was just about to reiterate. "Williams, you can't force a coward to have your six, and you don't need a fancy suit when you've got your skills."

"Th-Thanks ma'am," Ashley quipped. She then turned a murderous gaze to John, "but this isn't over."

"Try as long as you wish," John said calmly.

"Anyway…Agent Smith?"

That made John chuckle and shake his head slowly. "Call me John, Shepard."

"John," Jane acquiesced. "Your face, if you'd please. And a medical check-up with Dr. Chawkas would be…"

"I have already forwarded my medical data to your doctor," John said as he slowly moved his hands to the side of his helmet. "Be forewarned though, I'm not a nice thing to be seen."

The next instant, the helmet slid off.

The right half of his face was badly scarred, as if somebody had held him against a burning grate. On the right side of his neck stood a set of numbers in Batarian, as well as a symbol depicting a pirate band. The eyes were a dark brown, and heavy sleep-deprivation circles surrounded them. His hair was short and dark brown, and he had the beginning of a goatee on his face.

He didn't look older than her.

Something however fascinated her in that face. It was the same gaze as that of Anderson. The gaze of someone who had seen a lot. It was…the mature gaze.

She snorted a moment later —it wouldn't do to fidget.

"I saw worse."

"Unless you want me to strip," he retorted calmly, "I think we can stop here." He resettled his helmet on his armor, and when the satisfying click of the pressurization was heard, Jane couldn't help but believe she had heard at the same time a sigh of relief.

He turned and walked quietly to the other corner of the garage, where he popped out his Omni-Tool and began to type on it silently.

She moved to Wrex next, the Krogan Battlemaster standing on a crate. As she neared, the alien snorted a nod of his head.

"Shepard."

"Wrex."

She stopped in front of him, before crossing her hands over her chest. "So, what made you decide to come with us after Fist?"

"Fist was a contract," Wrex answered. "I go where the fight goes, and I figure that as long as I stick with you, I'll see my fair share of battles soon."

"Only that?"

"I'm a Krogan, what did you expect?" the battle master chuckled. "You bring me to the good fights, and I'll be the first in line."

"Good to know," she quipped back with a nod, before moving to the Turian…Garrus was his name, wasn't it?

"Officer Vakarian," she began.

"Please call me Garrus, Officer Vakarian is my father," the Turian remarked quickly. He was looking at the Mako with an appraising eye, his fingers slowly tapping on the surface of the land vehicle. "I think this could be improved."

She scoffed. "As long as it works and gets us from point A to point B, what's the deal in improving it?"

"Sturdier joints and armor for one thing would be a nice boon," Garrus smoothly replied. "And an increase in speed in case you ever have to outrun something big and bad."

"Just turn the gun backwards and let it fire. Builds speed."

The Turian looked at her for a moment with a gaze akin to perplexity —clearly visible even with the strange 'plated' skin he had. "Yes, I suppose…"

Was he being condescending? She knew her stuff! She had driven a fair share of Makos on Torfan.

"Suspensions might be nice," she mused. "If you can make it springier, it would be great for the long distance jumps."

"Long distance…jumps?"

"Yes, Garrus, what else is a Mako good for?" she retorted.

The Turian remained quiet for a second, his mouth slightly ajar. "All right," he closed it shut a second later. "I'll get to work on it then."

She nodded, before slowly making her way towards Ashley who was now alone and cleaning her weapons.

"Commander," Ashley said. "I'm sorry for my behavior before."

"Nothing to forgive," she replied. "Just don't try and shoot him. He's more useful to us alive than dead," she joked. At least, she thought it was a joke.

"I wouldn't," the woman answered earnestly. "I mean…No, ma'am, I'm not going to _try_ and shoot him. The armor he's wearing is…" she sighed. "Listen Commander, I know we aren't getting much with Alliance requisitions, but…that quantity of Output? It's six times what our standard armor dish out. I wasn't joking Commander. We could fling a Mako at him and he _wouldn't budge_. To keep him aboard…it's a damn waste."

"You're not letting this go, Williams?" Jane muttered. "There's got to be something else to this, isn't it?"

"Yeah ma'am, there is," Ashley snorted. "Look Commander, I'm a damn good soldier and so is Alenko, but skill can only carry you so far. When the enemy gets lucky shots, you'd better also have the _equipment_ to survive them. I'm sure his size is the same as Alenko's. If he isn't using it…then why does he keep on wearing it?"

"It's not like I can forcefully take his stuff, Chief," Jane said back. "It's enough he volunteered to give us the infos we need. And you still haven't answered my question, Williams."

Ashley sighed, lowering her gaze slightly. "It's just that…Commander, I'm not making any excuses; if my company had worn the same type of armor…they'd still be alive. That he has the ability to help and doesn't… that doesn't sit tight with me."

She nodded back. It sort of made sense. The woman was probably thinking herself responsible for the death of her squad, but this didn't change things, not by much anyway.

"Maybe I could ask if his chief has more armor available of that type," she suggested. "I'll talk to him, all right?"

"You'd do that, Commander?" Ashley's eyes widened briefly. "Thanks."

"There's nothing to thank me for, Chief. Just doing my job." Maybe she could get her hands on one of those armors too. The medium version at the _very_ least —she wasn't a N7 for nothing after all. She wondered if she had shown the guy her biotics yet. Probably hadn't. Even during the entire search on the Citadel she hadn't used them.

She didn't like to rely on those things. She had an assault rifle and a pistol, what need was there for some twisted blue thing that had made her life hell to begin with?

"_Leave my sister alone you jerks!"_

Jane stilled for a moment, a few steps away from John Smith who was still busily typing on his Omni-Tool. She couldn't discern anything from his body posture except merely him…being there…doing stuff.

She frowned and moved closer.

"Agent Smith," she cheerfully said. "How are you feeling now?" he stopped his fiddling with the Omni-Tool —why was the color black unnerving her? There was something about it that she couldn't place— and stared at her. At least, she supposed he was staring. The black helmet and shaded visor covered his face once more.

"What are you talking about, Shepard?"

She smiled slightly. "Well, your entire macho façade crumbled in less than a few minutes aboard, didn't it? Aren't you nursing your bruised ego now?"

"My ego does not require nursing," he retorted. "I never claimed to be the macho you thought I was."

"Then what about the 'all-black' armor and 'dark' atmosphere you just seem to be oozing?" she replied while rolling her eyes. "If you were aiming to impress, you made a wrong choice with color combinations."

"Who said my aim was to impress? I didn't," he shot back calmly. "You are basing yourself on dangerous assumptions, Shepard. Never believe what you cannot prove, never take for granted what you cannot ascertain. You don't go far in the information business without solid basis…"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "The Shadow Broker has more fancy hard-suits somewhere in storage? We could use them, you know. It would also make the job easier."

He cocked his head to the side for a moment, seemingly pondering on the question.

"Do you have nine hundred thousand credits?" he quipped back. "You could get yourself some Colossus armor with that amount."

She narrowed her eyes. "A simple 'no' would have sufficed smart-ass."

"Then you would have asked me 'why' and thus I would have answered as above," John said calmly. "Still, maybe your requisition officer has something to offer? I will however get in touch with my superiors…see what high-paying missions I can scavenge. A hand washes the other after all…"

"Bastard," she spat out as she turned around and walked briskly for the lift. She was fuming and seeing red by the time she reached the Mass Effect core.

She clenched her fists and took a deep, calming breath. She walked in the Tantalus core room to find the Quarian, Tali, already at work near a console. The Chief Engineer Adams had apparently given her the all-green to help in the engine section. She just hoped he knew what he was doing.

"Tali?"

"Ah!" the Quarian spun around with a startled movement, before taking a deep breath. "Shepard, you scared me."

"How's Adams treating you?" she asked then, trying to make…was it 'small-talk'?

"Chief Adams is treating me very well, ma'am," the Quarian replied while bobbing her head up and down once. "This ship is…amazing! I'm really thankful for this opportunity captain."

"Good to know," Jane said. "You know, I never asked you where you got the Geth unit's core to begin with."

"Ah," Tali's eyes moved to the side. "We detected a Geth presence in the Crescent Nebula, on Maisuth. It was an ice planet, with nothing of particular on it. So we…"

"We?"

"Ah, I embarked on my Pilgrimage on the Honorata…I was with Keenah'Breizh, a fellow crewmember, when we detected the presence and decided to investigate it." Her voice turned raucous. "Stupid bosh'tet that we were. We found a half-disabled Geth Unit with his memory core intact, and the moment we retrieved it…we were ambushed. Keenah…he was obliterated. They punctured his suit and tore him apart before I could even scream a warning. I barely," she choked slightly. "I barely managed to run for it, the Geth firing all around me. I feared they would shoot down the shuttle, but they didn't."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "They didn't hit you? Aren't Geth…machines?"

"Maybe the planet's magnetic field confused them or something like that," she retorted. "I know they weren't trying to miss us, or Keenah would still be alive now."

Jane nodded. "Was there something else in the data core?"

Tali crossed her arms over her chest, before slowly putting her Omni-Tool forward and beginning to select something.

The next moment, music poured out.

"This audio file…but…I mean…"

"_I am the very model of a Scientist Salarian…"_ the audio was cut off the next split-second.

Jane's right hand moved to her hair, scratching it slowly before huffing. "A Geth had that?"

"Yes, it doesn't make any sense," Tali admitted. "Why would Geth take interest in…music? Geth never went beyond the Perseus Veil before and they're basically Ais. If it doesn't have a purpose they don't usually take any interest in it, but I can't understand it."

"Well, never mind that," Jane shrugged. "I'll ask the council the next time I see those three if any Salarian is working with the Geth. Might be a long shot but…"

"Why not ask the Shadow Broker operative?" Tali questioned. "He was awfully informative when I asked him who the Shadow Broker was."

Jane blinked for a moment, before Tali raised her hands in a sort of 'placating' gesture. "I was joking. He told me the Shadow Broker was a Yahg, before coming up with him being a Geth and finally a Clone of George Washington. Whoever George Washington was I don't know."

"An old president of the United states," she answered swiftly. "Well then, see you later."

She left the engine room, her head more in a mess than when she had entered, but at least she now knew her crew.

She hoped Liara T'soni would be a good addition to it. At the very least, she would make for a nice political hostage with matriarch Benezia herself.

**Author's notes**

**SI are (from what I saw) always in first person, always in the SI's perspective.**

**I say no to the common conceptions of SI.**

**I say no to the common guidelines of SI.**

**I say that Shadenight123 does thing **_**his**_** way, for he is Shadenight123.**

**I say…that my muse is fickle, is a bitch, and should generally be put down for the good of Humanity.**

**That said…enjoy? (Remember kids, angst and drama are important in a healthy diet)**

**Ps: this is what I wrote while I waited for my muse to return to Harry Dursley and Chronicles of King. Don't ask me why my muse wanted this done…just understand that she's whiny like that and accept it.**


	2. Nothing is Easy in War

The Equalizer

Chapter Two

"_To acquire power, one needs power. To acquire knowledge, one needs knowledge. No street rat will ever rise further up the social ladder without some solid grasp to at least the first bar. You can't climb a wall without some support, no matter its form. My first support was of steel and synthetic fibers. My second held three heads. My third had a crest and a burning desire of revenge. The fourth one, instead, sung of peace._

_In the end though, I had enough knowledge that it already formed the ladder towards the final steps._

_That taught me one simple thing: knowledge is never to be underestimated." Shadenight123_

Jane Shepard grumbled as she bit down on the nutrient paste. She didn't dislike the thing, even though it tasted like carton. She didn't even feel sick at the usual sweet taste of the coffee, which seemed more like some sort of toffee candy melted down and stirred into liquid form than actual brand-made caffeine.

She could see through the infirmary's glass panels Lieutenant Alenko talking with Doctor Chawkas. She suspected the Lieutenant's amps had flared again. The L2 biotic interfaces were always prone to trouble. She was thankful to her father she had never had to wear one in all her life. Her father had made them leave Earth for Mindoir, passing through enough systems that by the time they had reached the colony nobody knew of her latent biotic potential.

She wasn't brought to the Ascension program because of that, even if the Alliance Officers had come for her brother too.

He would have been a wonderful Fleet Admiral. She knew that…

If only the Batarians hadn't come.

She clenched the plastic-ceramic weave of a cup with her fist, crunching the empty container.

The lieutenant left the infirmary and moved towards the food-dispenser, grabbing a tube of paste and sitting down a bit further down the table. What was she, scary?

She grinned to herself a moment later. Damn right she was scary!

Better to be scary than to be scared after all.

"Lieutenant?" she began with a smile on her lips. "Everything's all right?"

Kaidan furrowed his brows for a moment, before curtly nodding back.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good to hear that. We're landing on Therum soon. I want you ready for ground team. We don't know if Liara T'soni is with Saren or not, and since she's a biotic one fights fire with fire, right?"

"I suppose so, ma'am," always the diplomatic answers. It slightly unnerved her. If he didn't like being referred to as some sort of 'fire' then he'd better speak up. The way he always skirted around issues and troubles truly irked her.

"Well then, see you in the hangar bay." She stood up a moment later, and headed off to get the Krogan. Better safe than sorry, they tended to say.

Wrex was in the hangar, shadowboxing. He had a feral and appreciative smile on his face as he spun around to meet her gaze. "Shepard."

"Wrex. You ready for going down?"

"I thought you'd never ask. Can't wait to fight some Geth," he grinned like a kid in a candy store.

She frowned.

"Geth?"

Wrex just cocked his head to the side, before grinning even more and nudging with his head towards John. "Had a nice talk with him moments ago. There are Geth on the colony…"

Jane moved, her fists clenched to her sides as she angrily stomped her feet all the way towards the Shadow Broker operative. "You! Explain!"

He appeared unperturbed, but considering his armor she didn't doubt she had managed to at least make him flinch.

"Shepard," he drawled out. "I was expecting you sooner," he tapped on his Omni-Tool. "Do you even check your Omni-Tool mail?"

She gritted her teeth and then brought up her left arm. There was a beeping light of red that flashed, telling her that she had a message in her mail.

Jane flicked it open a moment later, and read the brief message with an underlying growl in her throat.

_Therum operatives have detected Geth presence,_

_Sincerely John._

"Sincerely?" she snorted. "That's as hypocritical as it can go from a Shadow Broker operative."

"You made your Extranet search?" he queried back. "I suppose you read through at least a dozen of conspiracies forums."

"Yes," she gritted. "And none have good words for your superior. They range from Super-Spy to Mad Illuminati King. They also claim you have ties with Cerberus and are active in the Terminus System as terrorists."

"And about cloning unicorns for war?" he retorted. "Did you read that article too? Because I assure you, war-unicorns are really effective."

She slammed her fist against his chest, wincing as she felt the kinetic barriers repulse her attack. "Shut the fuck up! When I want your opinion I'll let you know about it! Now, I want info on expected hostiles and the precise location of Liara T'soni!"

He flexed his right leg slightly, before bringing up his Omni-Tool again. There it was again with that dark hue that was eerily familiar to her. She couldn't place it, but she detested every second of it.

"A small mercenary band has passed through one of our checkpoints with enough heat and synthetic signals to identify them as a full complement of Geth and a Krogan Battlemaster. There also were a few signatures of still alive miners on the surface a few hours ago, but they all pinged back dead recently. We can expect Geth Dropships and Armatures, coupled with basic Geth infantry."

"The Shadow Broker seems awfully informed on Geth armaments," she mumbled as her Omni-Tool pinged with the specifics of the Geth enemies. "And why wasn't this information shared with the Alliance?"

"They refused to pay," he shrugged. "The Salarians, the Asari and the Turians all paid up when asked. The Alliance refuted on the basis that 'they did not deal with black market organizations'."

Jane's right fist clenched even more tightly, as small bursts of blue flashed across the back of her hand.

"Those bastards," she muttered, shaking her head.

"We could have avoided the slaughter of Eden Prime," she whispered. "We lost _thousands_. They passed through our defenses and tore apart entire cities before we could scramble back a fleet."

"If it is of any consolation," John remarked. "The casualties were not as high as the Thessia Terrorism Action done by Cerberus two years ago."

"You mean when they destroyed the Athame temple?" she snorted. "That made the Alliance do double rounds to try and contain Cerberus, but we did crack down on them pretty hard."

"You couldn't execute their leader though," he pointed out. "You barely made a dent in their organization too, depending on which side of the Propaganda machine you hear it from."

She raised an eyebrow. "You a Cerberus fanatic?"

John shrugged. "I don't care about politics. I do my job as an information broker. Propaganda gets in the way no matter who is spewing it. If one side claims 'overwhelming victory' and the other claims 'pyrrhic win' I don't care. I care if one side remains with a fleet of twenty cruisers or two, and _then_ I sell that info to the highest bidder who might be interested in knowing the truth."

"That's cynic," Jane muttered shaking her head. "I can understand why people don't like the Shadow Broker."

John shrugged. "Everything has a price, Jane. The sooner the world comes to term with it, the better it will become in the long run."

"Some things don't have prices! Honor and loyalty aren't things you can buy!" she snapped back at him, her right index finger pointed. "And I'll show you!"

"Uh?"

She smiled. "By the end of this mission you'll be off the Shadow Broker's team and on mine."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're mad."

"Maybe, but I know that you'd be a pretty useful addition to Humanity when the Reapers will come," she muttered. "And if you can guide us to the Shadow Broker, we could use his intel for our purposes."

"Ah…" John sighed. "This is the Commander Jane Shepard I knew of… waste nothing, right?"

She smiled. "Right."

_Therum_

The mako landed hard against the volcanic grounds with streams of molten lava flowing around it. The machine with six tires began its relentless march, the thrusters positioned beneath it making it fly for long marches across the ashen crust of the planet in question.

In the far off distance, a ruin the form of a pyramid stood with clear-cut Prothean designs, its location right next to an active volcano.

The heat was bearable even though Kaidan's dry comment on 'at least it's dry heat' didn't help her mood. She hated getting filthy and she hated getting sweaty. She knew it was a paradox: military training didn't leave any cadet smelling like roses, but that didn't mean she had to suddenly become a man-pig. She pushed on the acceleration as she drove through a few seemingly still Geth Armatures, crashing hard against them as she went by.

It was satisfying hearing them explode as the turret fired upon them, Wrex having the time of his life shooting the things down.

They didn't even appear to be firing back as they sped past them with all the speed they could afford. The springiness of the Mako seemed even better than what she was used to, and she couldn't help but comment on it out loud.

"The Turian did good work on the mako!"

"Dully noted, Commander," Alenko muttered back. She smiled to herself. The Lieutenant was barely holding himself from hurling from the sound of it, and apart from Wrex being his usual trigger-happy self she didn't think anyone else would have handled themselves any differently. Maybe John would have even puked in his suit.

It would have been funny to watch.

She laughed as she spun the wheel tight, avoiding a dropped down Armature from the sky.

"Joker! What the hell! Don't we have the skies!?"

"Commander, I can't seem to locate their drop ships from space," the voice of Moreau shot back. "I'll see what I can do."

"Don't fire blind!" she warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it," the pilot with vrolik syndrome remarked dryly.

She turned her gaze forward, to where the Prothean ruin was now coming closer, when giant rocks that she had dismissed as natural formations suddenly split apart to reveal triple-barreled turrets. The next instant thick laser beams shot through the kinetic barriers of the Mako, making it spin wildly in mid-air before crash-landing on its side.

Jane bit back a curse as she hastily unclipped the safety belt.

Her head pounced and her breath hitched. She found herself deafened by the alarm that rung across the Mako's driving post, signaling to her that the wheels had been busted and the situation was critical. The reactor was reaching detonation point, and she could only barely throw her feet against the door to crash it open, before jumping out and falling down on the ashen ground.

She breathed unevenly the thin and charred atmosphere, before the breather in her suit popped up completely covering her vision with her suit's hud.

Her breaths slowed down as she held her shotgun to her chest, moving slowly to the back of the Mako and pushing her Omni-Tool near it to open the thing. The Turrets weren't firing on them, probably having lost their lock because of the cloud of dust and ash they had lifted…which wouldn't last much longer, she supposed.

The turret on the Mako spun wildly a moment longer, before a snap sound was heard soon followed by bolts of mass driver crashing against metal. The top detonated outwards and Wrex emerged clad in a barrier from within, falling down behind her.

She gestured for him to help and with his brute force they both managed to slam down the metal back exit. The Lieutenant had been torn from the safety belt, his body slamming against the other side of the vehicle with tremendous strength. She doubted the man was still operational, but she wasn't going to leave him there.

This situation reminded her of Torfan too much.

"Commander? We've got your signal still. Did the Mako break?"

"Joker, we need medical Evac right now!" she snapped back to the flight lieutenant, her hands grabbing the wounded Alliance soldier and bringing him to the back of the vehicle. How long till it would explode and give away their cover?

"Alenko's down, I don't know how long he might survive without medical attention," her Omni-Tool flashed orange a moment longer, the simple Alliance program to check on injuries by connecting with the hard suit worn told her all that she needed to know on his conditions –and those were critical.

"We're coming to pick you up at your coordinates!"

"Negative! They've got Gardian Systems operative, you'd be shot down and we're too close for a run through. We'll proceed on foot to the ruins."

She bit her lip through her visor. She and Wrex could probably make it, but carrying Alenko too?

She clenched her fists.

Sacrifices were to be made for the mission.

"Wrex, we're moving!" she snapped curtly. "Can you lift a dust storm with your biotics!?"

"I can certainly try, Shepard!" Wrex laughed, his biotics flaring a green hue as he roared before charging forward. She lingered just a second more on the prone form of Alenko, before finally starting to run behind the Krogan switching to her assault rifle.

The laser beams fired again through the powder clouds breaking chunks of the ground as they connected with the dirt and the ash. They were firing blind thankfully, because no matter what laser beams were unstoppable by the Kinetic barriers or the Biotic barriers. A beam passed a few inches away from her face, forcing her to drop down on the ground and fling a grenade in that direction. She waited for the explosion before moving once more.

The roars of Wrex were just a few more meters ahead of her in the midst of the cloud of ashes.

"Shepard! I've got the grounds charted, follow the signal!" the voice that shot through her speakers was that of John, as her hud began to glow a light reddish tint. Was that a red dot at the side of her vision?

"Wrex, move to the right, follow the line!" John barked once more. "Get beneath the tower; they can't fire from that close!"

Those were her lines. Was John trying to relieve her from command?

No. He was probably saving their lives. She found herself cursing him all the same as she followed the directions that came from the Shadow Broker operative, ending up emerging from the dust clouds with a crevice just a few inches away from her. She ended up with her back against the surfaced rocky formation, as laser shots nearly beheaded her when she stilled for a second.

"Wrex, fire on the tower near you! Attract its attention and then duck!"

She heard the rifling of the turret's barrels before a loud explosion made her narrow her eyes. "Jeff? Can you take out a measly anti-air turret from orbit?"

"That I can," the flight Lieutenant returned the banter through her coms, while she kept on slightly growling. This was her operation. She knew that her life had just been saved, but she would have come up with the same plan, so why was he getting ahead of her!?

"Can you land nearby?"

"No, but we can send the shuttle and get Alenko to safety," a loud explosion forced Jane to get her head down as the turret nearest to her exploded.

"And the anti-air is gone! Normandy one, Geth team zero."

Something felt wrong in Jane's mouth, and it wasn't the blood or the taste of ashes. She swallowed nervously as she moved her head beyond the natural cover, just in time to see the Mako's engine starting to burn up.

"You'd better be quick, because he's—" and then the Mako exploded.

The dust that rose was second only to the feeling deep in the pit of her stomach that told her that no, Alenko couldn't have possibly survived a point-blank explosion of the Mako.

Her first mission to hunt Saren. They hadn't even completed it and…and Alenko was dead.

"The shuttle won't be needed," she snarled curtly in the com. "Alenko's dead. Send down Vakarian and Tali, Smith? You and I on private com, right fucking now!"

There was silence for a second.

"Affirmative, Commander," Jeff closed coms a moment after.

A new communication channel opened an instant later. "Shepard?" John's voice was all that she needed to begin her tirade.

"You god-damn motherfucker of a fucking bastard! You hacked my suit!"

"You were in dire straits."

"I was perfectly fine!" she snarled. "You will remove whatever shitty Trojan or what not you have placed on my suit this instant, and I don't care what the fuck you think you are doing, the next time I hear a single word from you while I'm leading the Ground Team and I'll kick your fucking ass all the way out of the airlock and towards the closest black hole. Have I made myself clear, Smith!?"

Silence.

A small beep on her hard-suit.

"Affirmative, Shepard."

"Good!" she snapped back, exhaling loudly. "You try this shit again, on any other member of the ground team, and the same rule applies! You even try and get your Omni-Tool anywhere near the Normandy and I'll put a bullet through your brain before I even fucking decide what to do with your corpse! Have I made myself clear!?"

Silence again.

"Crystalline," was his curt reply through the coms.

She closed off the channel, before heading straight off to where Wrex was standing. He was still smiling, the oversized dinosaur.

"Wrex? You head back up. Team wasn't suited for this. We need long range and the Geth expert for this type of shit."

"What? Why can't I tag along all the same?" Wrex snarled back. She grabbed him by the hem of the armor and slammed her visor-head against his own face. The pain was good –it cleaned her thoughts.

"Because I said so! You've got a problem with that!?"

The Krogan growled for a moment, before shaking his head and chuckling. "Fine, Shepard. You've got a quad on you…but next time, I'll stick through no matter what."

The shuttle landed with a strong thundering noise, its side hatch opening to admit out the marine complement. She stared for just a second more at the marine with the dark pony-tail, before shrugging it off as just a coincidence. She _should_ be talking to her crew one day.

The Turian and the Quarian descended within moments, as Wrex instead huffed himself aboard. She gestured for the marines towards the Mako's remains. Maybe they'd find a bone or a limb of Alenko.

"Good," she grunted. "We have Geth presence here, and they're entrenched deeply. I want you," she pointed to Garrus, "to be our overwatch. You instead," turning to Tali, "try and get us the Geth frequencies, we need to know where the hell they are."

"Yes ma'am," Garrus nodded.

"It will be done Captain," Tali added quickly, her omni-tool flashing briefly.

She snorted and turned her back on her squad, before starting to carefully walk slightly crouched.

Garrus' sniper rifle unfolded as the Turian took point in the crater that once housed the laser turret. "I see two armatures behind a rock formation to the North-East. They aren't moving."

"I'm picking up a radio signal," Tali muttered. "It might be survivors."

"Patch it through," Jane retorted as she turned her gaze West, towards a volcanic lake. She could probably time it well and manage to pass through the hardened black crusts, but she doubted the rest of the team could. The rocky formations and the Armatures reeked of trap, just like this one.

Going through the middle meant a no-man's land charge.

"_Welcome madam and monsieur! Welcome to Radio Geth! The only radio-activity you'll need, thirty-six hours a day! Today, with your powerful Deejay Prime-Unit Organic, we will be talking about life. And death. And I think I'm speaking for everyone around here when I say that life and death are quite difficult concepts to tackle on…"_

"Keelah," Tali muttered. "The Geth listen to radios?"

"No," Jane grumbled back. "Someone however does like to talk."

"_Now that hurts me, Commander Shepard, right here in my synthetic heart," _the voice pouted through the radio.

That froze Shepard.

"Who are you?" she hissed. "Identify yourself! You've hacked into a secure channel and by the protocol of the Alliance navy you are—"

"_Now that's boring! Enough of it, Shepard. We're going to get T'soni before you, and nothing you can say or do will change it. Understood? Comprehende? We are superior. We are Geth. No longer servants, no longer enslaved! We are Geth! Our will is our command! Our command is our will! Or whatever, really. We were expecting you, Miss Shepard. Fun thing: you can take out the heat from a Mass Driver core, but you can't hide electricity from a Geth. Funny, huh?"_

"Why are you working for Saren?! What does he want with Benezia's daughter?"

"_Now that would be telling. Well, as long as you stay put there will be no problem. Should you try and move however…"_

"Done," Tali piped in. Suddenly the rock formations broke apart, as the laser turrets began to randomly fire against the Armatures before off-shooting one another. "Hacked while he was busy rambling."

Jane turned to look at the Quarian with a new light, and smiled. "Well done. Keep com chatter to a minimum, Geth can track it."

"Commander," Joker remarked a few seconds later, as they were finally descending. "There are Geth cruisers running around us, I think we're overstaying our welcome. I can hold off, but time is of the essence here!"

"We'll have to make do with it, Moreau. Head to the Prothean temple when I ask for evac." She snapped up tight and gestured for both of the aliens to follow her. "We break into a run people! Get to it!"

She began to sprint, Garrus and Tali following her as fast as they could as they dashed across the ashen landscape. Her heart began to beat as she could feel the noise of Geth drop-ships coming over their heads, the entrance of the Prothean pyramid in sight.

"_We will not be ignored!"_ a voice shrieked through her com, a detonation erupting right next to her. She was propelled backwards by the blast, landing roughly on the ground. _"You are but a sack of flesh made manifest, Shepard! We are the apex of creation! We are the future!"_

She felt the hands of the Turian, Garrus, lift her back up on her feet. Her visor had cracked slightly, but she nodded back to the alien and managed to wobble back on her own two feet. She closed with her Omni-Tool the cracks, before opening fire with her assault rifle on the closest armature.

"_You think a team of three might stop us? An army would, a fleet would, but you are alone Shepard! And alone…people tend to die."_ The Geth opened fire. Bullets tore through her kinetic shields as she heard a scream-filled 'Keelah'.

She felt the strength of another blast, and then her back hit against a strong surface. Arms grabbed her and brought her inside, just as her vision began to blur. Medi-Gel was applied to her wounds —she'd recognize the soothing feeling anywhere— and her vision cleared. The doors that led into the Prothean dig site had been closed, but they had managed to enter. Tali was holding the side of her suit and muttering prayers as her Omni-Tool worked on it.

The Turian was breathing deeply, beads of sweat falling down his skin as his eyes darted around them.

The loud sound of explosives ramming against the doors of the dig site wasn't inspiring, but for the moment…for the moment they would hold.

"_So you've escaped the Geth outside…a pity the true monster lies within the temple."_

"Where the hell are you!?" Garrus snapped —the sniper rifle in his arms as he looked around, the only way to go downwards. Jane stood up heavily breathing.

"Tali?"

"I'm all right," she buzzed. "My suit…was punctured but I managed to apply anti-biotics. I should be fine as long as I receive medical aid on the Normandy."

"Garrus?"

"I hate being toyed with," Garrus remarked. "Reminds me of a bad case," he added.

"Likewise," she muttered back. Her eyes roamed over the surface of the temple's walls. "We don't have time to rest. We move."

"Aye, Commander."

"Call me Shepard," she quipped back. "Both of you probably saved my life."

"Anytime," Garrus acknowledged.

The descent was uneventful. If the still painful wounds on her entire body weren't hurting her, and if her muscles weren't tense and ready to fight, she might have perhaps admired the images etched on the walls. Still, as it was, she hoisted her assault rifle and kept on moving. They reached the end of the descent with barely a moment to catch their breaths.

"_Lure the prey, lure the prey, lure the prey to hell…sing a song, sing a song, sing a song in hell."_

The rhythmical notes sung in the air as she carefully moved her head past the corner. Standing facing a blue force field was a humanoid shape with thick white cables and synthetic muscles, twin orbs of lights placed on his shoulders and a sort of cerulean interweaving that made him every bit as 'synthetic' as it could possibly be.

The figure turned around and smiled. His face was made of thinner carbon fibers and his eyes were red dots. He didn't have any hair, but what looked like the upper side of a helmet was _sort of_ his scalp. In his arms stood a Geth Plasma Rifle, and he was apparently tapping his right foot on the ground.

He looked alone. He seemed alone.

She wasn't at all sure he actually was.

Behind him, within the cerulean Mass Effect field, an Asari was standing with her arms folded over her chest while rocking back and forth.

"Goddess," she whispered. "Goddess, please…"

"Ashley isn't here?" the white armored figure mock-pouted. "Is she betraying me with someone else already, Shepard?" the thing added with a mocking tone. "I gave her my heart on the battlefield; you know…she refused it."

He feigned drying a tear. "I'm so sad now."

"Keelah, what are you?" Tali muttered. "Are you…Geth?"

"Yes, no, maybe," the figure shrugged. "I am Synthetic. My name is Prime Unit Organic. My Will is that of the Geth, and the Geth are my Will."

"Prime? Is that a new Geth definition?" Jane hazarded. "Why do you talk?"

"Not shooting first?" the figure cocked his head to the side. "Ah, yes. You're gesturing for your pet Turian and Quarian to prepare an Overload. Well…good luck with that," he nodded sagely.

Purple flares surrounded his figures.

"I'm a biotic, after all," and then the white armored figure laughed raucously as a Barrier settled over him. "Let us fight our worst nightmares!"

The twin Overload did nothing as it clashed against the barrier, the shields relentlessly bleeding out the effect as the white armored freak opened fire on Tali first. The concentrated burst of fire sailed in the air inches close to the Quarian's visor, forcing the alien to retreat while firing behind her back.

Garrus' sniper bullets drove through Prime's shields, their strength of impact enough when coupled with Jane's own bursts, to cripple the Geth's defenses enough.

The red haired Commander Shepard charged with a battle cry, slamming her armor's reinforced elbow joint against the enemy Get, before tackling him. The creature just laughed as he grabbed her by the neck and lifted her, before _throwing_ her backwards with enough strength to probably shatter her ribcage. She flew in mid-air before landing against the other side of the wall.

"With my head bloodied, yet I still stand. Undefeated and unyielding, my soul is mine." The Geth remarked. "I'm tearing apart poetry to suit my needs, but it is fine for the question is answered at last!" the figure chuckled.

"Does this unit have a soul?" Garrus was lifted from the ground, before the strength of the biotics slammed him back against the wall, near Shepard. The Prime unit moved forward, its red eyes settled on Shepard. "And the answer is…"

A discharge of electricity, a shotgun shot until the barrel overheated, and then there was silence. Behind Prime, Tali stood huffing with her weapon bleeding off heat. "Keelah, you talk too much!"

"I like her," Jane muttered as her suit applied what little medi-gel remained in her reserves. Her breathing returned somewhat normal, as she slowly brought herself back up.

"You're not Geth, right?" the Asari's voice cut through the silence of the room with a tone of frailty, as the scared scientist looked at them with slightly widened eyes.

"No, last I checked no," Jane grumbled back as she helped Garrus on his feet. "You Liara?"

"Dr. Liara T'soni," the Asari quipped back, mostly because of instinct. "I'm sorry. It's just…he didn't stop talking to me and…I think he was trying to drive me mad."

"Psychological warfare is new to the Geth," Tali muttered. "They never fought like this, and they certainly never had biotics in the war that drove us off our planet."

"So you're saying they evolved?" Garrus asked as he began to fidget with his Omni-Tool.

"I'm saying that we don't know. Keelah, if the Geth evolved…they might wage war on all organic life."

"He called himself Prime Unit Organic," Jane muttered as she gave a hesitant kick to the beheaded corpse. "There isn't any flesh though. Delusional machines?"

"It could be anything. I should analyze bits of the synthetic carapace though, they might yield—" Tali's words came together with a long resounding beep from the corpse.

The unison decision when dealing with such a thing was clear: they all jumped away as the corpse detonated, tearing apart a chunk of stone wide enough to let them crawl through and towards a Prothean control panel on the other side.

"Keelah," Tali coughed through her helmet. "This is smart."

"Machines are smarter than humans," Jane retorted.

"No," Tali shook her head. "Machines are stupid. Machines are programmed and are thus as good as their programs allow. This…this trickery, this contingency plan, psychological warfare…it's smart. Geth were cheap labor forces. Simple codes. A 'Geth' is a collective ensemble of small lines of codes that somehow 'fit' one with the other to form a walking platform. This acting, this cadence and movement…it didn't use the 'We'. It spoke with an 'I'. I am a biotic. The thing…He, It, it's…" Tali failed to find the correct words. "Keelah, it felt _alive_."

"That's the problem with Ais, they tell me," Garrus commented as he crawled through first.

"No! An Ai works on codes and lines. An Ai wouldn't be quoting strange verses or faking being a radio program. An Ai would destroy organics because 'they increase entropy' or 'the organic cannot rule themselves' or another logical fallacy of the sorts. There wasn't logic in the Geth's actions, yet they ambushed and attacked and…"

The doors of stone of the Prothean dig site detonated, in the far off distance.

"And we're going to have company soon!" Jane yelled. "Get the doctor out of that force field, now!"

She crawled in last, before holding point with her shotgun. "Working on it!" the reply came from Garrus. "But I don't know any Prothean!"

"Try and look for a swirling tilde!" Liara exclaimed as she turned to look at the Turian. "No! Not that one!" the sphere had doubled in size after a wrong button had been pushed. "Try with the fourth one from your right," the sphere lost height. "I said right! It's clear that one was…"

Jane fired the first shot as a headlight emerged from the hole. The pellets tore the head off cleanly, passing through the overloaded kinetic barriers. The second one had its chest 'aired' while the third found itself on the receiving end of the shotgun's barrel side.

"Move it!" she snarled. Thankfully adrenaline was holding her from feeling pain, as a mass driver bullet hit her in the ankle. It still hurt like hell, but at least it was survivable. A grenade rolled in, which she hastily kicked out.

"I can keep this up all day!" she yelled back.

"Done!" Garrus' exclamation came in the same moment as the field disappeared.

Both fields.

"There's an elevator in the back," Liara weakly muttered.

"Run for it!" Jane's screech came just as Tali conjured forth a drone, soon followed by a few shotgun rounds fired blindly. The Human Spectre emptied her grenade belt, flinging it at the incoming horde of Geths as they staved off the advancing synthetics.

They reached the elevator just in time to climb aboard, the lift going up and leaving behind the masses of Geth.

"_Now Shepard," _a voice cracked into her coms. A voice that she recognized instantly. _"I can't let you do that, you understand?"_

"How are you still alive!?" she snarled back.

"_Do not confuse the Geth with the Platform. Do not confuse the weak with the strong. We are beings of pure thought. We are superior. And now that I've done my nice egocentric and half-crazy piece, please enjoy the fireworks."_

The ruins began to rumble.

"He set off explosives!?" Tali turned around to stare, as a wide crack appeared on the stone as the elevator finally reached the last floor.

"Joker, we need evac right now!" Jane's scream probably tore through the Flight Lieutenant's headset, but there wasn't another choice.

"Coming down hot Commander! Be ready to jump!" the reply was quick and to the point, Jane could hear the stress in the cracked voice of the flight lieutenant. "What? You can do that? Do it then!" were the last words she heard before the coms were interrupted again.

"_Thank you for having chosen Prothean Lifts Commander, last floor of Prothean Temple: lava, crumbling artifacts, psychopathic Krogan battlemaster and Geths!"_

Jane's eyes widened as she recalled John's words. Krogan.

There had been a Krogan.

And there he was, with a smirk on his face and flaring his biotics.

Surrounded by what looked like Geth with missile launchers.

"Shit," she cursed. "The temple is falling! Can't we talk about this on another day!?"

"This is what makes it exciting!" the Krogan roared as it charged her.

At the same time, Tali opened an Overload straight into the closest Rocket Trooper, who was wracked in spasms as the second one was quick-scoped by Garrus. The Turian breathed slowly as he redirected the second shot on the spasm-filled Geth.

The bursts of bullets from the nearby Geth forced Liara behind the console as an impromptu barricade. Her right hand waved forward a pulse of Biotic energy that slammed away the synthetic, sending it to crash against another. The Krogan's charge wasn't interrupted even when Jane's shotgun fired away at the beast's head, but just as she was pushed back by the charge that sent her against the console, there was a flash of light.

The Krogan stood angling in mid-air, floating a sphere of Mass Effect as it snarled insults. "Shut up!" Tali fired together with Garrus, filling with holes the beast before it fell on the ground, unmoving.

Jane closed her eyes shut as she took a deep breath. Every bone in her body hurt.

"Commander! Coming in hot, where the hell are you!?"

"_Ah, so you think you have won,"_ the voice crackled in her helmet as she stood up. _"I will let you believe it. After all…to err is to be human."_

The coms shut down finally, letting her start to wobble towards the rest of her team. "Can you stand?" the Asari asked as she neared her, before helping her by lending her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she grumbled, coughing blood. "This is nothing a few medi-gel applications can't fix."

"Let's move! Double Time!" she added then quickly. "We don't have time, Normandy's incoming!"

She wobbled as fast as she could, following behind the running Garrus and Tali. The exit of the temple was in front of them, the light of the planet's sun made Jane wince as they found themselves on a circular platform just outside.

"Where's the Normandy?" Garrus' question was left unanswered as the Normandy came down fast, spinning wildly and opening the hangar doors. Two marines stood clasped to the sides of the hangar, their assault rifles firing randomly.

At least, she believed it was random until she was hoisted up and turned around. Strange Geth like creatures were crawling all over the walls of the temple, hopping every now and then as they lunged from the hangar's doors.

One of the hoppers managed to land one foot away from her, aiming its gun at her.

She stared back.

An Omni-Tool blade cleaved the flashlight's head neatly. The marine with the Pony-Tail returned to his covering fire a moment later.

Jane looked numbly, before grinning like the Chesire cat.

She definitively had to meet the crew now.

Maybe it was the painkillers speaking though, considering Chawkas was already fussing over her. Hadn't she been in the hangar a moment before? And where was the shuttle? She hadn't seen that or the Mako.

Well, as the lights went out and she fell asleep, she couldn't help but feel that she was missing a very important point.

She'd think about it the next day.

**Author's notes**

**Insanity is the new Easy Mode.**

**We bring Insanity to new levels.**

**Nobody is safe, all can die.**


	3. Fueling the Dread

The Equalizer

Chapter Three

"_What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another? What if I quote a song and let it go? I know, I know…things seem strange and bizarre, but the answer's there, easy to understand. Of course, only a twisted mind could see a twisted reality not deformed by madness. Aren't we all a bit mad though, to believe in dreams of electric sheep?" Prime Unit Organic._

"_The greatest technological discoveries can only be achieved through warfare. It is a sad reality that Hitler needed to be born in order for humanity to evolve. It is extremely horrible when you realize that in time of peace, humanity can't find anything newer than a new type of fashion or cry of political scandal. Humans need war in order to evolve._

_And I had all the intention of making them the top of the evolutionary pyramid…no matter the cost that would be paid." Shadenight123._

Jane Shepard was awake and running around the Normandy within three hours. Sure, Chawkas insisted against it, but she wasn't a N7 operative. The doctor fussed too much on 'wounds re-opening' and 'points of suture', but Saren wouldn't be caught by himself.

"Commander, there's the council wanting to speak with you," Joker's voice buzzed through the intercoms, before she brought up her Omni-Tool to reply.

"Tell them I'm busy now, I'll call them later."

"All right Commander, Joker out."

She nodded to herself, before heading towards the lift that would lead her to the hangar. She had a few choice words to deliver to John, and she was going to make sure the lesson had really stuck.

The moment the doors opened, John Smith walked out of the elevator with the pony-tail marine. Jane stopped and crossed her arms over her chest as the marine saluted stiffly before departing towards the far end of the corridor and beyond, to the ship's crew quarters.

"Shepard," John began calmly.

"Remove your helmet," she snapped. "I want you to look me in the eyes when I'm talking."

"If this makes you feel better," he retorted as he unclasped the visor to reveal his half-marred face once more.

"Yes," she exhaled. "You were Alliance, weren't you?"

He moved his head to the side and brought up an eyebrow in perplexity.

"No? Good, it's enough to get you arrested for having infringed on at least over a dozen of regulations concerning hacking into secure military channels and remotely controlling the shuttle."

He winced. "The shuttle was used to help you escape —it drew fire away from the landing zone."

"This was done without express permission from the Commanding Officer," Jane rebuffed him. "Frankly, you're useful and that's why I have yet ordered you to be imprisoned, but if I find out you've been taking some…liberties, _again_, with Alliance equipment… I will have your head."

"Fine," he acquiesced with a nod. "Next time, I'll leave you to die."

"I had everything under control!" Jane screamed at him, slamming her right hand against his chest. "It was a mission! I am the CO! They obey my orders! Everyone obeys my orders! Is it clear? I am the Commander; I am the one who _commands_! What _I_ say goes, not what _you_ say!" she pushed him back in the elevator, sending him against the wall. "I lost a man barely three hours ago! And then you shit-head came out of fucking nowhere and took command! What the hell gives you the right to do this, huh!? Where's your fucking Torfan medal? Where are your god-damn stripes and stars!? Where's your military training huh!?"

He remained silent, which just enraged her further. "So you've got nothing to say now, huh!? Had you been down there, the Lieutenant wouldn't have died! Had you been in his place, had you been there with the armor, had you done something else than just fucking prance around like a dickless emo bastard then he might still be alive!"

Jane spat on the floor, holding her right hand up with her index pointed at him. "It's your fault Kaidan died. You should have told us more. You should have known more."

John said nothing. He simply took a step forward, and then another. His face was inches away from that of Jane, who was breathing heavily from the exhaustion.

His Omni-Tool slowly rose to her stomach, and as a feeling of cool passed over the area she realized she had been bleeding from an opened up stitch. The Omni-Tool stopped applying medi-gel a second later; the black hue disappeared into thin air as the Shadow Broker operative walked out of the elevator without sparing a second glance to her.

She closed her eyes and breathed, before slamming her fist against the metallic surface of the elevator's walls. "AAaargh!" she yelled out loud, slamming her hands again against the steel panels. "Why the hell does it have to be me," she whispered.

She slapped her cheeks a second later.

"Focus Jane, focus," she murmured. She pushed the button to lower the elevator to the hangar, and came into a scene she would have never believed possible.

The Turian and the Krogan were playing chess, with Ashley explaining the rules while Tali watched with vivid interest —as much as being in a suit could help with expressing emotions— as the two kept looking at one another with sour expressions.

"So the tower goes straight here, and charges like a Krogan!" Wrex exclaimed slamming the thankfully steel piece hard on the metallic crate…with enough strength to dent the surface.

"Yes," Garrus remarked. "The pawn instead moves to the side and sabotages the tower, making it fall." The Turian chuckled as he ate the tower of the Krogan, before watching with even more amusement as Wrex roared his displeasure to the tower piece.

"You stupid imbecile! You should have seen the pawn coming no!? You were supposed to be on a favorable high ground!"

"Chess doesn't take everything into consideration, strategy wise," Jane off-handedly remarked as she moved closer.

"Shepard," Wrex huffed.

"Commander," Garrus said a moment later. "I am sorry for the Lieutenant." He dropped his head slightly, before adding. "He seemed like a nice person."

"That he was," Jane replied.

Ashley snorted. "He should have been better equipped. We all should be better equipped. When are the requisitions due to arrive?"

"We'd have to get to the Citadel," Jane remarked. "Or Noveria, which is our next stop anyway. We'd better have a look at what the matriarch is doing…where's the doctor anyway? I thought she was down here with you lot."

"Ah, no," Ashley remarked. "The Asari's upstairs in the second deck. She and the bastard apparently share an interest in Prothean artifacts...Pressly got them a corner of the storage room to chat about dead stuff."

She snorted. "I wonder," her eyes settled on Tali. "How are you instead?"

"Good enough," the voice was raucous. "I got a light fever. I might not be the best choice for another mission yet, but all in all I won't die. Dr. Chawkas was really helpful."

"She's the best," Jane acquiesced with a small smile. "What about you, Garrus?"

"Not even a wound," Garrus scoffed. "I was a moment's breath away from being nicked in an artery though; those…those things that came after us while we were escaping had decent aim."

"They didn't look like Geth Hoppers," Tali whispered, coughing slightly. "Nothing we faced looked really like the Geth that fought my people off Rannoch. I mean…they either were too dumb or too smart. And a biotic Geth? Really, there's no…"

Ashley lunged at the Quarian a second later, grabbing her by the shoulders. "What!? Was he humanoid? Red eyes and flashlights on his shoulders!?"

"Ahhh," Tali exclaimed in fright as Jane quickly moved to separate the two.

"Chief Williams!" she snapped, bringing the Gunnery Chief back to her senses. "Snap out of it!"

"Sorry ma'am," Ashley whispered with her breath heavy. "It's…did he call himself…Prime? Prime…Organic?"

"Yes," Jane retorted. Her eyes then widened a fraction. "I remember now. He said something about you when we fought him."

"The bastard stomped through my entire unit like he was killing ants," Ashley snarled back, clenching her fists tightly. "We were entrenched and defending our position, and he just arrived down from the sky and tore through us with his biotics. It as a slaughter…I still remember the faces," she muttered. "He _tore their spines_ from their bodies and used them to _choke_ other marines. And he laughed and said poetry verses in my direction," Ashley's breath hitched. "He let me go." She whispered. "He waited until my rifle was overheated, and then he just walked towards me, grabbed me by the neck and…and then he dropped me and left."

"Why?" Jane asked.

"I…He…he said that the Geth were coming," she whispered. "And that when they would, he hoped another Williams would surrender rather than die like an imbecile," she bit the last words out with a snarl. "The bastard…"

"Williams? Surrender?" Tali's perplexed question was answered by Garrus.

"The first contact with humanity near Shanxi, General Williams was in charge of the defense and he surrendered to the Turians who were invading the planet. He did the right thing: the Turian military would have slaughtered his men had he kept up the fight."

"No they wouldn't have!" Ashley snapped back. "They could have held the line for just one week, and the Navy would have arrived!"

"But they didn't know that," Garrus remarked. "Communications were cut. The General had to make a choice between surrendering and letting all his men die. Thousands owe their life to him. There is no shame in admitting defeat in the face of a superior enemy."

"Will you tell that to the Reapers too?" Jane snorted.

"_Honorable_ superior enemy," Garrus corrected himself. "The Turian treatment of prisoners is second only to the Asari's."

"I'd better go," Jane sighed. "I need to talk with Doctor T'soni about her mother, and then set a course for Noveria."

"Oh, Noveria," Wrex chuckled. "Are we going to shoot the bureaucrats in the face?"

"No," Jane retorted. "We will not shoot anyone if we can avoid it." If she hadn't lost it with John, she could have asked him a way to directly bypass the bureaucracy…well, she'd just order him to do it anyway.

"You'll change your mind soon enough," Wrex shrugged.

She left the group to walk back up the elevator, trying her best to ignore the empty coffin that had been placed in a corner of the hangar. Without the Mako or the shuttle, the place looked massive. She'd have to get the Alliance to field a new land and air vehicle…eventually.

Her way upstairs was unimpeded, and as she finally neared the storage room she couldn't help but still for a second. She schooled her features into a tight and iron mask, and then she opened the door and stepped through.

In a corner of the room a small laptop was open, upon which Doctor T'soni seemed busy working on. In the opposite corner instead was John, his Omni-Tool on the desk as he tapped onto it furiously. He stopped and brought up his helmet-face to meet hers, before pushing a couple more buttons and making the screen filled with text disappear, to be replaced by a Solitaire game.

"Commander Shepard," he grounded out through clenched teeth.

"Commander," the Doctor said then with a slight trembling voice. She stood up and walked forward, crossing her arms over her chest as she hugged herself. "How may I help?"

"What were you doing on Therum?" Jane asked. "And did the…Prime tell you anything?"

"Ah, I…I was working on the recent uncovered dig site," Liara's face furrowed as she tried to recall. "I think he said something about the Reapers," she admitted hastily. "He kept on rambling about…a stairway to heaven and a highway to hell," she muttered, before shaking her head. "He didn't make much sense."

"He, huh," John remarked dryly as he returned to tap on his computer.

"What is it?" she spun to face him, her eyes narrowing.

"Geth are machines. 'He'. Connect the dots," he retorted calmly. "It seems to me you've been treating him as a person, or am I wrong?"

Jane blinked. "So?"

"So, either he is 'Geth' or he isn't. And if he isn't 'Geth' then he's what, their evolution? Think humans, there is Sapiens and there is Sapiens-Sapiens. This 'Prime' could be a Geth Sapiens-Sapiens. It could be an evolution to the Geth. You know; an 'evolved' version."

"It takes centuries for a race to properly evolve, Geth are machines…" Liara's words died in her mouth as John remarked.

"Machines think unnaturally fast though, don't they? They are not limited by physical means and…'Geth' isn't the physical platform, but an ensemble of code. Code can be upgraded, it can be evolved. A self-learning program is an AI. Their curve of evolution should naturally be quicker as they need but seconds to process and adapt to the adversities, finally outsmarting them."

"Do you have a Geth fetish or what?" Jane snarled. "So what if they're 'super' machines? They can still be turned off."

"If you turn off a Computer, do you kill its soul? If you burn the hardware, do you destroy the software? You burn the data allocation, but the 'soul', the 'software'…that is an astral projection thing," he quipped back. "Or, said in an easy to understand way: you can't kill software unless you take away the net they work on. And the more you kill the easier it is for the survivors to adapt and take you out, since platforms suddenly find themselves filled with Geth codes."

"The Shadow Broker really had a lot of information on Geths, didn't he?" she retorted. "What was it you said to Tali? That he's a Geth?"

"I also said he's a Yahg though, and a war-unicorn."

"You said he was cloning war-unicorns," Jane dryly rebuffed him.

"Oh, right," he chuckled. "Must have confused myself."

"Was there anything else, Commander?" Liara asked her, her gaze awkwardly moving towards John and then back.

"Yeah," she acquiesced. "I've been in contact with a Prothean beacon on Eden Prime, and…I've been having these visions of the Prothean's death at the hand of the reapers…they don't make any sense but…"

She snarled in frustration, clenching her hands against the sides of her head. "They're making me even more irritable than I'm used to."

"And here I was thinking it was genetics," John snorted. "Like, coded in your DNA or something."

"Interesting," Liara's eyes lit up with excitement. "If…If you wish, I could try and make some sense of it. It would require we join minds however, and…"

She began to babble. Jane rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers in front of her face. "Get to the point."

"Ah, well, we would join minds…I would see the Prothean Beacon's images and try to make some sense out of it."

"If it will make the headaches and the nightmares disappear… then do it," Jane grunted as she gestured for her to move closer.

"Y-Yes," Liara stammered as she moved closer, her hands delicately stopping on her shoulders. "Try and relax Commander," she added slowly. "_And embrace eternity_."

_Metal connected to flesh. Flesh torn apart by metal._

_A kid is playing beneath the shade of a tree with his Omni-Tool. Her brother should do something else, like play with her._

_Screams of the reaped. The Reapers are coming._

_They're calling her a freak because she's a biotic, the next moment they're crying on the ground as her brother's back is in front of her. He hit them hard._

"_You have to warn your species," the Beacon says._

"_The bully must be shown who truly is strong," her brother remarks. "No mercy to the evil man. No mercy to the enemy of those you cherish."_

_More screams. The Protheans are dying._

_The Batarians are landing…_

She flung a right hook towards Liara's face, but a black gauntleted hand is already there, grabbing her wrist and stopping her from otherwise maiming the doctor's cheek.

"What was that!?" she yelled at the Asari, who stumbled backwards and gasped for air from the shock. "Release me!" she snapped at John, who let her go within seconds.

"Goddess…I'm sorry…I couldn't control it," the blue skinned doctor muttered. "It was…so much…"

"It was a warning for the arrival of the Reapers;" Jane pointed back. "What was the rest? What did _you_ see?"

"I…I was shocked, I couldn't control the meld…usually it is far wider and broader in scope. I tried to keep it only on the beacon but…"

"You will not talk of this with anyone," she pointed her index finger at the Asari. "Or I will throw you out of the airlock."

"I'm sorry, it wasn't—"

"Is that really the best insult you can come up with?" John snapped back at her, taking a step forward. "I mean, it's an airlock. All suits have an air recycler that can last indefinitely as long as it isn't breached. Sure, death would come by lack of food and thirst, but maybe luck could bring a passing freighter by."

She narrowed her eyes on the Shadow Broker operative. Her right fist didn't however try and hit him. She just clenched it and then left growling. "We're going to Noveria next. I want all info on that planet before we reach it."

"Commander," Liara spoke frightened, but with a determination in her eyes Jane had yet to see the Asari have. "May I come with you? There's…There's my _mother_ down there."

John tapped a single button on his Omni-Tool.

"Done," he replied calmly. Jane looked at Liara for a moment more. She then turned to look at John again.

"Good," she walked out a moment later, without saying a single word to the Asari.

She slammed her right hand against the nearby metal wall, before settling her gaze on the med-bay's doors. She took a deep breath and walked in, the doors hissing open as she stumbled on the Dr. Chawkas holding a bottle of alcohol between her hands.

"Oh, Commander," she spoke. "Can I do anything for you?"

She fidgeted. This was a long shot. "I…I need to see John Smith's medical information."

"Ah," Karin commented. "I shouldn't because of patient-doctor confidentiality, Commander. However if you use Spectre Authority I am forced to comply."

She nodded and schooled her features. "I'm using it then. Can you hand it over?"

"All right," Karin's Omni-Tool flashed in her usual orange color, and the next instant Jane's own answered. As the Commander flipped it open and began to read, the doctor spoke again.

"Is something the matter, Commander?"

"Can you trace in the Alliance database if there are similar medical charts to this one?" she asked calmly.

Karin blinked. "Are you suspecting he lied about his medical information?"

"I doubt he'd lie about the blood type in case of a transfusion, or on the really important stuff…like _allergy to chocolate_? Why would anyone be allergic to _that_?"

"Maybe it's psychiatric rather than physical," Karin shrugged. "I knew this marine who was allergic to watching ants. He'd start feeling the ants as if they were crawling all over his body and had horrible rashes. Turns out when he was young he ended up sitting on an anthill and the terror struck him like that."

"So to disarm him, I throw him a chocolate muffin?" Jane retorted sarcastically. "Can take a cannon shot but falls to the powers of a chocolate candy bar?"

"It will take some time to get through the entire database Commander…what should I look for?"

"Start with Alliance top and work your way down," she replied. "If the Shadow Broker uses this sort of format for fake health information, we might be able to gleam who some potential spies are. Afterwards send a message to Captain Anderson to investigate. And…" this was the longest shot of all. "Take a sample of his blood and see if he checks positive as one of the Mindoir colonists."

"Commander?" Chawkas frowned. "Well, I certainly can try. I doubt he will cooperate."

"I'll make sure he does," Jane answered. "What's that by the way?" her gaze landed on the bottle.

"Ah, this is Serrice Ice Brandy. Mister Smith actually brought me a bottle. It's my favorite, but I wonder how he knew…" she chuckled. "I suppose being an agent of the 'Shadow Broker' means knowing what good old me likes to drink..."

"Be sure it isn't poisoned doc," Jane quipped back. "You can never be so sure."

"Dear, don't worry. I actually already have one bottle. I'll drink that first, maybe after all this is over we could drink it together?"

"Of course," Jane acquiesced. "Well, time for me to go and crack the whip. Noveria won't meet us halfway."

"Take care, Commander."

_Noveria_

She watched with fascination as three _imbeciles_ decided to try and stop them. She was just about to shoot them in the face, when John actually came down from the Normandy walking leisurely. Wrex said nothing as the dark armored agent walked forward, before displaying something on his Omni-Tool to the guards who hastily excused themselves and retreated as fast as they could to the corners of the entrance to Noveria's port. The captain of the guards, Maeko something, even bowed her head deeply at his arrival.

"So he's not land sick," Ashley remarked next to her. "He's just a coward. I suppose he feels right at home here, in the middle of the frigging cold weather with bureaucrats holding sticks up their asses as…"

"Chief, quiet," Jane snapped at the other woman, who shut her mouth in an instant. "Agent Smith, I think you should review Alliance protocol concerning shore leave."

"I'll be returning right now," the visor-wearing man replied. "I just wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident with three trigger happy people and a bunch of idiots," he supplied. The way he spoke was condescending. She hated condescending.

"This is strike two, Agent. Act on your own a third time and we'll see."

"Please, Shepard. You're curious as to who I am. You won't leave me here, on Noveria of all places, with the useful information I can provide you."

Jane bit her lip. How had the man known?

She narrowed her eyes. "You placed a microphone in Chawkas' brandy, didn't you?"

"You actually talked to the doctor about me?" he replied with an amused voice. "I thought you'd start an Extranet search or open a discussion on the 'have you ever seen this man before' forum."

"Amusing," Jane retorted. "Get back on the ship before I leave you down here."

Just as the Agent left, a buzzing noise made itself known in Jane's earpiece.

"_Commander…what a pleasant surprise."_

She froze.

Her right hand went to the mic near the helmet, as she inserted it as a private conversation.

"Prime Unit?"

"_Of course, who else? Oh, were you expecting someone…better? Thank you, by the way…Ashley Williams will love seeing me again! I hope you enjoy the little spectacle I'm about to unleash."_

"Commander Shepard, this is Gianna Parasini, if you could—" the next instant, static filled the air.

The clamps holding down the Normandy turned a dark crimson shade, as Joker's voice reached her.

"Commander? Is everything all right?"

"Joker! Hold the ship!" she snapped back before raising her assault rifle. "We've got Geth!" she yelled at Maeko, who had taken her weapons out at the same moment. There was a light rumbling, soon followed by the sound of explosions and screams. The guard turrets that stood at the entrance turned their rifles upon the Turian guard first, tearing the security officer apart with bursts of bullet fire.

"Take to cover!" Jane screamed as she turned and dashed behind the closest metal crate. Ashley followed her, while Wrex began to fire with his shotgun, his barrier holding up as the Krogan Battlemaster roared his joy.

"And here I thought this would be boring, Shepard!" the Krogan replied wickedly between explosion.

"Throw a cooked grenade, Chief," Jane instructed Ashley. "You take the right turret."

The grenade's pin was dropped harmlessly on the ground as Jane counted slowly to three, before letting the lethal orb sail in the air thanks to her throw and land with precision against the turret. Just as it was about to bounce off, it detonated destroying the turret.

"_Welcome to Noveria! Please enjoy your stay!"_ a soft jingle began to play, as the second turret was destroyed by Wrex continuous shotgun fire.

The moment Jane stepped out of the cover, the bodies of Maeko and the other guard were the first things she saw.

"Joker, can you get the Normandy in the air?"

"Negative Commander, they clamped us down. You should look for the commands at the port authority building."

There was silence for a minute. "Oh and Commander? Make it top priority. There are Geth cruisers inbound."

"Fuck!" Jane screamed. "Fucking piece of shit of a synthetic cocksucker!"

She barreled through the doors, ignoring the lusciousness of the fountain of water or the green plants within the entrance. She didn't ignore the Geth hunters attached on the wall. She fired a short controlled burst as the first of them made to pounce on her, while the second who was flanking her fell to Wrex's shotgun. Ashley's own fire tore through the head of two sodding flashlights.

They ran up the stairs nearby, Jane's eye settled with the iron sight of her weapon as she looked fretfully around. Corpses littered the floor, pierced by bullets in the back and in the front. A table was overturned in a corner, riddled with bullets and corpses laid against them.

"_Attention, attention! We've got hostiles inbound!"_ Prime Unit Organic exclaimed through the room's stereos, "_All units! Free to engage!"_

A screeching noise was met with a short burst of static, as an arc of electricity sailed through the air centimeters away from Jane's head.

She turned her gaze to the side where the shot had come, and widened her eyes.

Geth units stood, their right hands holding white-hued Omni-Tools. Electricity crackled from their hands as their flash-lights locked on them.

"_For Gethdom! For unity! Come on, Commander! Show us! Show us you have what it takes! Show us you can do this!"_

Jane fired before she could stop to think, Wrex charging as electric Overloads slammed against his Biotic barrier. The first shotgun salve tore the head of the closest Geth Engineer, but just as he was about to slam against the second one, a Krogan appeared from behind the corner and charged him back.

The two Krogans fell on the ground, both rolling back up in an instant and circling each other.

Ashley fired short controlled bursts at Geth who were slowly crawling their way towards them from the ceiling, their bodies falling on the ground and detonating upon impact.

"Commander!" Ashley exclaimed. "We're surrounded!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" Jane yelled back.

Wrex's hands grabbed the enemy Krogan by the head-plate, before making a terrifying roar as he ripped it apart and exposed the brains beneath. Slamming his right hand inside, he then kicked the corpse back against the Geth engineers. He grabbed his shotgun from the floor and rolled as a few bullets hit him in the shoulder-armor. The moment he took three steps, the corpse exploded –he had placed a primed grenade inside, after all.

"The way's clear forward!" Jane began to run forward, bullets grazing her kinetic armor behind her.

"_Come Alice! Come and see! Watch the rabbit hole! Look how deep it is! Careful when you land…cause there's magma beneath it, not the rabbit!"_

The corridor held stairs at its end, but as Jane moved her head behind to watch her teammates following her, a gauntlet-armored hand slammed straight into her chest. She was thrown backwards by the strength of the impact, slamming against Wrex who fell back down with her on top.

"Urgh," Jane groaned as she slowly stood up.

There, on the stairs that were supposed to lead to the port authorities' commands, was Prime.

"Jane!" he widened his arms happily. "Ashley!" he laughed out loud, his voice metallic and distorted. "We meet once more!"

"Tali killed you!" Jane yelled back.

"Oh? Temporary setback," the humanoid-looking Geth shrugged. "Do you like my new upgrades?" he gestured to his neck, where small kinetic barriers seemed to have been placed. "No more headshots with this!"

Ashley screamed as she opened fire, the bullets reflecting against the biotic Geth's barrier. "This is for Eden Prime!"

"So you're actually happy to see me," Prime remarked as he flung a sphere of Singularity at the soldier. Ashley barely rolled on the ground to avoid it, but as it stuck on the wall behind her it suddenly detonated, sending blue flames to throw her forward.

Jane had meanwhile charged forward, taking out her shotgun and screaming as she fired straight in the chest of the Geth.

"We cannot be stopped, Jane," Prime spoke calmly as he backhanded the shotgun away. "We are your future."

"Fuck off!" Jane's right hand burst forth in punch move, which Prime didn't parry or block. There was a light ping sound a moment later.

Prime had enough time to watch the primed grenade tucked near his shields' generator, before muttering.

"He—"

And then his head detonated.

The headless body of Prime fell on the ground, as Jane breathed slowly. "You shouldn't have let me get close to you," she snapped. Two bullets slammed on her left side, coming from the Geth behind them that were advancing.

"Shepard! Quick, to the commands!" Wrex exclaimed as he spun around to fire random bursts of pistol fire on the advancing platforms. Jane moved to grab Ashley, helping her up before walking the last steps that led them into the security office. The security guards laid all dead on the floor or against the holographic panels. A Geth Engineer overseeing the security camera was shot in the head, but not before pushing a button to activate the security turrets within the room.

Beneath the bursts of fire, she barely managed to get to cover beneath the console itself as Wrex fired shot after shot. He coughed a moment later, falling against the panel with blood freely flowing from his wounds.

"Shepard," Wrex coughed. "It's fine now," the Krogan breathed raggedly. "I'll survive. Just…a flesh wound."

"Sure," she whispered back, slowly crawling out from beneath the console.

She looked at the commands on the console, before biting her lips. She wasn't trained for this.

Her Omni-Tool beeped in her hand a moment after, as she called the last person she would have normally talked to for help.

"John? Can you crack this?"

"I'll need to pass through your Omni-Tool," the Agent remarked calmly.

"Fine," she replied. "Just get it done!"

There was a beep. A noise of whirling mechanisms as her Omni-Tool began to work on its own. Soon, the command console of the port turned its holographic keyboards to a black hue. They began to tap on their own a second later, as the cameras turned off before reactivating to show the 'true' status of the colony.

There were Geths putting the civilians that had survived the initial assault against walls, before gunning them down.

"Mother of God," Jane whispered. "They're _executing_ them."

"Geth hate biological life," Tali's voice buzzed through the intercom. "But this action goes against their program. They shouldn't be attacking non-hostiles: it's a waste of bullets."

"But it's psychologically effective, isn't it?" John's voice remarked. "Anyway…clamps disengaged. Normandy's ready to go, Commander."

"We can't leave yet," Jane replied. "There are civilians to safe and the Geth are behind us!"

"With such little time I can overwrite the security parameters of the turret system, Commander. However if I do that the automated defenses will fire indiscriminately upon Geth and civilians."

The doors of the security office began to rumble as metallic fists created dents against it.

Jane bit her lip, and then looked at both Wrex and Ashley.

They were both wounded, and needed medical attention.

"All right," she breathed out evenly. "Do it."

"Overwrite executed."

Those two words would haunt her for the rest of her life, as she watched the cameras of Noveria's feedback show her the turret systems turn upon the Geth, before mowing down the civilians themselves and then turning off.

It took less than five minutes.

The station fell silent a moment later.

"Liara will get to see her mother, I suppose," John quipped in.

"John? Shut the fuck up," Jane hissed back.

Thankfully, he did just that.

Unfortunately, the silence was just as horrible…if not even worse.

**Author's notes**

**Chapter done.**

**As always shadenight123-dot-blogspot-dot-com for inter-chapters update or just generally knowing what I'm doing.**


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